2016 INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE

The International Metropolis Project (http://www.carleton.ca/metropolis) started in 1995, promoted by the Carnegie Foundation and the Canadian Government. The Metropolis International Conferences are held every year in a different country and are the most important meeting on migration-related issues at the international level.
In 2014 year our Foundation organized the conference in Italy. The five days of the International Conference were articulated in plenary lectures, meetings and workshops, which saw the participation of high-profile speakers and of a wide international public (more than 700 attendees), including scholars, researchers, officials and policy-makers from about forty countries.

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plenary 1. Forced Migration, Tensions and Conflict in the mediterranean

The geography of the Mediterranean has produced a long history of migration throughout the region, migration associated with trade, warfare, and the establishment of empires. This same geography continues to affect today’s migration flows, in particular those leaving as a result of tensions and outright conflict brought about by the Arab Spring and by the flows of people from Sub-Saharan Africa towards Europe. Much attention has been given to the Italian island of Lampedusa whose proximity to the northern shores of Africa has made it a favoured destination since the early 2000s for irregular migration by boats, an unfortunate number of which have capsized killing hundreds of migrants over the past few years. The humanitarian crises stemming from conflicts in the region, especially in Syria, have overwhelmed the international community and governments in the neighbouring states. This panel will try to come to terms with the dynamic and often dangerous migration in this part of the world.

Chair

Sandra Sarti (Deputy Chief of the Cabinet of the Minister, Italian Ministry of the Interior)

plenaria 2. Undocumented migrants: to serve or not to serve?

This panel will consider the challenges that irregular migrants pose for cities and national governments regarding their service needs, and the tension between meeting those needs and enforcing immigration controls. One can find fascinating examples across a range of services, from health, education, and protecting victims of crime, where the imperative to provide the service trumps the imperatives of immigration control, and in the process creating tensions between city administrations that want to provide the service and are unwilling to pass on the personal details of these service users to national immigration authorities. Inspired by the Sanctuary Cities movement, many cities are now making public services available to irregular migrants to protect their human rights in outright defiance of national law or at least its spirit. Panelists will help us to understand the impact of the Sanctuary City movement on irregular migrants, the effects on municipal authorities who may be acting in defiance of national law, and the sustainability and ultimate effectiveness of this approach to the presence of irregular migrants in our societies.

Advocates, including the United Nations, have championed the creation of a World Migration Organization for well over ten years now, believing that rationalizing the world’s seemingly chaotic approach to migration governance would offer mutual benefits to all sides and raise global GDP markedly. Despite the benefits touted in support of such an organization, there has to date been no serious attempt to engage in global governance on migration to anything like the extent to which we have succeeded with regard to trade. Despite the existence of a widely accepted agreement on the treatment of refugees, there appears to be no appetite for an agreement on labour migrants. Are the aspirations for a WMO destined for frustration? Or are there lessons or footholds to be gained in existing trade blocs such as NAFTA, the EU, ASEAN, and others? Our panel will look at where the opportunities lie and where barriers may remain.

plenary 4. The competitive advantage of diversity

In the contemporary demographic, economic and social landscape, migrants can be viewed as paradigmatic examples of citizens of open, mobile, competitive, and pluralistic societies. Taking this premise as its point of departure, this plenary session will focus our attention on policies and initiatives of public authorities, civil society organizations, businesses and individual entrepreneurs to attract talented migrants, to develop their human capital, and to value their specific skills, knowledge, and competencies as a source of enrichment for both organizations and the common wellbeing. Special attention will be devoted to diversity management which, building upon the principle of assuring equal opportunity for all, aims to strengthen economic competitiveness and social cohesion by favouring the expression of abilities, talents and potential of each woman and each man.

Chair

Walter Kindermann (Hessian Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration)

plenary 5. Sustainable linkages: migration, food and culture

Throughout history, cities have played a role as drivers of local, national and even global economies. Even in the current fragile economic juncture, cities are sites of new forms of production, technological developments, and cultural change. These developments, whether economic or cultural, have often been associated with international migration. This is, for example, manifest in the proliferation of cultural industries and productive diversity. Food serves as an interesting lens to explore these fundamental issues. This panel will reflect on the theme of the Milan Expo of 2015, Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, but from the point of view of migration. Speakers will look at food security and migration, at how transnational business meets the rapidly growing demand for authentic homeland food in the migrants’ societies of destination, at the role that ethnic entrepreneurs play, and how migration’s altering of the global food economy affects not only consumption but production patterns worldwide.

plenary 6. What comes after 2014? Migration governance in the EU post-Stockholm Program

Since the Tampere meeting of the European Council in 1999, the European Union has been gradually developing policies on migration, asylum, and integration, the most recent of which is in the form of the Stockholm Program whose provisions expire in 2014. This plenary panel will explore the future of common migration-related policy in the EU, considering the aspirations of the Union as well as of its member states, and the boldness of vision required to advance the EU towards a stronger common migration policy, particularly with regard to labour migration. At a time of growing nationalism among the 28 member states, panelists will look at the political challenge of finding agreement on these sensitive issues which can impinge on their domestic sovereignty. At the same time, panelists will consider the imperative of dealing with Europe’s demographic trajectory, its economic future, and the social challenges that migration and integration can bring.

plenary 7. Development Through Migration

The relationship between migration and development has emerged as the principal means through which the international community has engaged in discussions of migration. Once a topic avoided in multilateral fora, migration is now pushing closer towards the top of the agenda. Although there is now widespread agreement that migration does enhance development and contribute to the reduction of poverty, consensus remains elusive on how, if at all, it should be managed to this end. The panel will reflect on the recent progress that has been made in the international community, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) which will have most recently convened in Stockholm. Our speakers will recommend directions that discussions about migration and development can take as preparations are made for the next meeting of the GFMD in Istanbul in 2015.

plenary 8. Migration in the Media: a Tangled love affair?

Governments and businesses that understand the need to bring immigrants into their societies to support the labour force, to supply skills that the domestic population cannot, or to meet humanitarian obligations can be thwarted in their ambitions by negative public opinion. Often it is the news media that drives negative public perceptions of immigration, immigrants, and refugees, in some cases even where there is no substantiating evidence for negative portrayals. The role and responsibility of the media in reporting on migration affairs has been discussed often, including at Metropolis conferences. This session will bring the discussion up-to-date by looking at not only traditional print and broadcast journalism but at the role of social media either in fomenting unsubstantiated negative views of migration and migrants or in correcting erroneous views that, when widely held, can stand in the way of legitimate and beneficial government action.